Collapsible umbrella frame



April 12, 1966 w. BREIL COLLAPSIBLE UMBRELLA FRAME Filed March 17, 1964 Jnrenfon- United States Patent 3,245,422 COLLAPSIBLE UMBRELLA FRAME Werner Breil, Solingen-Ohligs, Germany, assignor to Bremshey & C0., Solingen-Ohligs, Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed Mar. 17, 1964, Ser. No. 352,471 2 Claims. (Cl. 135-26) My invention relates to a collapsible umbrella whose frame can be shortened by telescoping to make the collapsed umbrella small enough for carrying it in a brief bag or ladys pocketbook, for example.

More specifically, my invention relates to an umbrella frame composed of a stick formed of two telescoping portions, a main runner or slider displaceable along the stick and latchable thereto in frame-unfolding position, telescoping ribs each having a radially inner member linked to the stick and an outer member linked by a main strut to the main runner, and an auxiliary runner which is slidable along the stick and is linked to the main struts by means of auxiliary struts. Such umbrella frames are described, for example, in U.S. Patents 2,165,967 and 3,003,510. This type of umbrella, although generally satisfactory, may occasionally cause trouble because the rib members, instead of turning outwardly away from the stick in order to open the umbrella, sometimes telescope into each other so that the umbrella cannot open at the first try. There have been numerous proposals to remedy this trouble, but many of them have not come up to expectations. Some of these proposals require an uneconomic degree of accuracy of manufacture to make them work. Others do not provide the required reliability.

It is an object of my invention, therefore, to further improve collapsible umbrellas by reliably preventing undesired telescoping during unfolding, withoutrequiring any particular precision in manufacture nor increasing the amount of material and space or appreciably affecting the production cost. Another, conjoint object is to prevent the means for excluding undesired telescoping from discernibly or appreciably increasing the force or resistance that one must overcome when unfolding the umbrella roof or when collapsing it to minimum size.

The invention is predicated upon the known expedient of counteracting any telescoping of the ribs at the beginning of the erection movement by obstructing the movement of the auxiliary runner toward the crown of the umbrella, with the aid of a stop which radially projects from the stick and can be pressed inward against the action of a spring. In a known umbrella such obstruction is obtained by having the top edge of the auxiliary runner strike against the stop, then depress it somewhat, and then slide over it so that the stop rubs on the inner surface of the runner. This has the disadvantage that the friction impedes the runner movement not only when needed, namely at the beginning of the roof erection, but also during the last stage of folding the umbrella roof, thus aggravating the folding operation.

In contrast thereto, and according to my invention, I provide the auxiliary runner with a cam edge extending in skewed relation to the stick axis, preferably along an approximately helical curve, and have this control cam engaged by a resiliently depressible stop of the stick at the beginning of the erection movement. As a result, the stop imparts to the auxiliary runner a rotational displacement about the stick axis which jams the members of each rib against each other. I further provide the bottom edge of the auxiliary runner with a bellmouth which depresses the stop when the umbrella stick is being collapsed by telescoping.

Since in an umbrella according to the invention the stop does not act by friction but by imparting a twist to the auxiliary runner, the spring for biasing the stop outwardly can be kept very weak. Consequently, no appreciable resistance need be overcome when during telescoping the stop is being pressed into the stick by the bellmouth of the auxiliary runner.

As a rule, a collapsible umbrella is provided with a manual release device for the latch which locks the two telescoping portions of the stick together in their extended position. The release device must be actuated manually before the umbrella can be telescoped. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, such a latch release device is coupled with the above-mentioned stop and pulls it back radially into the stick when the latch is being released. Therefore, the runner rotation which clamps the rib members to one another can occur only when the umbrella roof is being unfolded.

Embodiments of umbrellas according to the invention are illustrated by way of example on the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows diagrammatically the frame of a handbag umbrella in extended but folded state;

FIG. 2 shows on larger scale an auxiliary runner with a cam slot in its basic position, the umbrella being in folded condition;

FIG. 3 shows the same runner in the position it assumes just after the beginning of the roof-unfolding movement;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal section on the line IVIV in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section through part of a second embodiment.

The stick of the umbrella according to FIG. 1 consists of two telescopic tubular portions 20 and 21. Stick portion 20 carries a handle 22. Portion 21 carries the umbrella crown 23. Ribs consisting of two telescopic members 24 and 25 are pivoted on the crown 23. The rib member 25 slides into the member 24 and is guided by a sleeve 26 which is also used for a pivotal connection of the member 25 to a main strut 27. All main struts 27 are pivoted on a main runner 28 which has a manually releasable locking pawl 29 by means of which it is locked on the stick in the position illustrated when the umbrella is erected. The stick notches used for locking purposes are not illustrated. An auxiliary runner 49 is movable on the stick above the main runner 28. Auxiliary struts 31 connect the auxiliary runner to joints 32 on the main struts 27.

Undesirable collapse of the ribs on erection is counteracted by imparting some rotation to the auxiliary runner 49 about the stick axis at the beginning of the erection movement. To this end, the auxiliary runner has an inclined control slot 50 engaged by a stop 51 in the form of a pin projecting from the stick. When the umbrella is in the non-erected state, the stop 51 is situated near the closed upper end 52 of the slot 50. As the umbrella is being erected, the auxiliary runner 49 moves upward and is rotated about the stick axis by the stop 51.

As shown in FIG. 3, the auxiliary struts 31 participitate in this rotation. The twisting thus produces a jamming or clamping effect on the sliding parts of the frame, which includes the ribs. This prevents the rib members from telescoping together. When the stop 51 leaves the control slot 50 during further progress of the movement, the auxiliary runner automatically returns to its original untwisted position, and the jamming action ceases. The stop 51 can yield radially and, on closing of the umbrella, moves back inwardly when met by the flaring bottom edge or bellmouth 53 of the runner. When the umbrella is to be telescoped, the stop 51 is pulled radially inward by manual release so that it does not turn the auxiliary slider and therefore does not impede the telescoping action. FIGS. 4 and 5 show these operations in detail.

Patented Apr. 12, 1966' In FIG. 4, the stop 51 is also used to lock the tubular stick portions 21 and 22 to each other in the extended position. The stop 51 is fastened to the free arm 54 of a leaf-spring 55 mounted at 56 inside the stick portion 21. The stop 51 extends outward as far as the slot 50 through bores 57 in the stick portions. A bar 58 is longitudinally movable in the stick and is retained by a spring (not shown) in the position illustrated. The bar 58 is used for release when the umbrella is to be telescoped. The bar 58 is connected to a knob 60 (see FIG. 1) projecting outward at the end face 59 of the handle 22. When the knob is being depressed, the bar engages the bent end 61 of the spring arm 57 and moves it inwardly so that the stop 51 is pulled out of the slot 50 and out of the bore of the outer stick portion 22. The stop 51 then has no elfect on the movement of the auxiliary runner 49. At the same time the stick portions are unlocked and can be telescoped together.

If the auxiliary runner cannot be put into a position such that the nose used to lock the stick portions can be utilized as a control stop for the auxiliary runner rotation, or if it proves difiicult to give the stop the required large travel in the radial direction, then separate parts may be provided for the two purposes. Thus, in FIG. 5 the stop 62 for rotating the auxiliary runner during erection is mounted on the free arm 63 of a leaf spring 64, while the second arm 65 of this spring carries a latch nose 66 engaging bores 67 in the stick portions 68 and 69 to latch these portions to each other when the umbrella is extended. A fork 70 is used for the release. Its longer arm 71 actuates the stop 62. The shorter arm 72 acts on the latch nose 66. The fork 70 is connected to the knob 60 by a rod 73.

The slot 50 in the auxiliary runner may also be given the form of a cam groove. An oblique downwardly open groove, having the shape of the slot illustrated may be pressed or otherwise molded into the inner wall of the runner sleeve.

T 0 those skilled in the art, it will be obvious upon a study of this disclosure that umbrella frames according to my invention may be modified in various other respects and hence can .be given embodiments diiferent from those particularly illustrated and described herein, without departing from the essential features of my invention and within the scope of the claims annexed hereto.

I claim:

1. A collapsible umbrella frame, comprising a stick formed of telescoping portions, a main runner displaceable along said stick between frame-folding and unfolding positions, telescoping ribs each having a radially inner member linked to said stick and an outer member, main struts linking said respective outer rib members to said main runner, an auxiliary runner glidable on said stick during unfolding of the frame caused by displacement of said main runner, auxiliary struts linking said respective main struts to said auxiliary runner, a stop laterally protruding from said stick and being resiliently depressible radially into said stick, said auxiliary runner having a cam edge extending in skewed relation to the stick axis and being engageable with said stop at the beginning of the frame-unfolding travel whereby said stop imparts to said auxiliary runner a twist about said axis to jam said inner and outer rib members against each other, said auxiliary runner having at its bottom edge a bellmouth glidable over said stop for depressing it into said stick during framefolding travel, said auxiliary'runner having an approximately helical slot extending upwardly from said bellmouth and being downwardly open, said slot constituting said cam edge, and said stop consisting of a radially displaceable pin engageable withsaid slotand a spring inside said stick for biasing said pin outwardly to slot-engaging position.

2. A collapsible umbrella frame according to claim 1, comprising latch means for securing said telescoping portions of said stick in extended position, a manual release device for releasing said latch means to permit telescoping said portions into each other, and means connecting said manual release device with said stop for radially withdrawing said stop into said stick when releasing said latch means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,003,509 10/1961 Hibbard 1351-25 3,003,511 10/1961 Muller 1 35 26 FOREIGN PATENTS 493,623 2/1950 Belgium. 1,139,245 11/ 1962 Germany.

REINALDQ P. MACHADO, Primary Examiner. 

1. A COLLAPSIBLE UMBRELLA FRAME, COMPRISING A STICK FORMED OF TELESCOPING PORTIONS, A MAIN RUNNER DISPLACEABLE ALONG SAID STICK BETWEEN FRAME-FOLDING AND UNFOLDING POSITIONS, TELESCOPING RIBS EACH HAVING A RADIALLY INNER MEMBER LINKED TO SAID STICK AND AN OUTER MEMBER, MAIN STRUTS LINKING SAID RESPECTIVE OUTER RIB MEMBERS TO SAID MAIN RUNNER, AN AUXILIARY RUNNER GLIDABLE ON SAID STICK DURING UNFOLDING OF THE FRAME CAUSED BY DISPLACEMENT OF SAID MAIN RUNNER, AUXILIARY STRUTS LINKING SAID RESPECTIVE MAIN STRUTS TO SAID AUXILIARY RUNNER, A STOP LATERALLY PROTRUDING FROM SAID STICK AND BEING RESILIENTLY DEPRESSIBLE RADIALLY INTO SAID STICK, SAID AUXILIARY RUNNER HAVING A CAM EDGE EXTENDING IN SKEWED RELATION TO THE STICK AXIS AND BEING ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID STOP AT THE BEGINING OF THE FRAME- UNFOLDING TRAVEL WHEREBY SAID STOP IMPARTS TO SAID AUXILIARY RUNNER A TWIST ABOUT SAID AXIS TO JAM SAID INNER AND OUTER RIB MEMBERS AGAINST EACH OTHER, SAID AUXILIARY RUNNER HAVING AT ITS BOTTOM EDGE A BELLMOUTH GLIDABLE OVER SAID STOP FOR DEPRESSING IT INTO SAID STICK DURING FRAMEFOLDING TRAVEL, SAID AUXILIARY RUNNER HAVING AN APPROXIMATELY HELICAL SLOT EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM SAID BELLMOUTH AND BEING DOWNWARDLY OPEN, SAID SLOT CONSISTING SAID CAM EDGE, AND SAID STOP CONSITING OF A RADIALLY DISPLACEABLE PIN ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID SLOT AND A SPRING INSIDE SAID STICK FOR BIASING SAID PIN OUTWARDLY TO SLOT-ENGAGING POSITION. 